'Social Security' (British Information Services poster, New York)
A pictogram in five rows (1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940) shows nine figures standing in rain while a blue umbrella marked 'Social Security' grows wider with each dated British measure until it covers all nine in 1940. The sequence shows only the extensions of coverage and no limits or costs (card-stacking), a record of expansion presented as one steady story.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British Information Services, New York (an agency of the British Government)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
British Information Services, New York, c. 1940. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44 (NAID 44267063, 44-PF-393).
Text on the object
SOCIAL SECURITY Poor Law 1900 DESTITUTE First Old Age Pensions Act 1908 1910 OLD AGE PENSIONS AT 70 Health Insurance Scheme Unemployment Insurance Scheme 1912 1920 HEALTH INS. FOR WORKERS 14-[illegible] UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Contributory Pensions Scheme 1925 1930 OLD AGE PENSIONS AT 65 ORPHAN'S - WIDOW'S PENSIONS WHITE COLLAR WORKERS Old Age Pensions Act - 1940 Unemployment Insurance (Agriculturl) Act - 1940 Extension of Unemployment Insurance Scheme 1940 WOMEN'S PENSIONS AT 60 AGRICULTURAL WORKERS [umbrella label:] SOCIAL SECURITY BRITISH INFORMATION SERVICES, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N. Y. An Agency of the British Government
